Army Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo told U.S. District Judge Walter Smith during a Thursday hearing in Waco, Texas, that he and his attorneys weren’t communicating effectively. Smith granted Abdo’s request to represent himself at his Aug. 10 sentencing.

A federal jury Thursday convicted Abdo, a Muslim soldier, on six charges in connection with his failed plot to blow up a Texas restaurant full of Fort Hood troops, his religious mission to get “justice” for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

US Army PFC Naser Abdo, arrested in July 2011 while allegedly collecting supplies to bomb and shoot Fort Hood soldiers, reportedly confessed shortly after he was arrested. His lawyers unsuccessfully tried to get the confession ruled inadmissible.

[U.S. District Judge Walter Smith] rejected a defense motion to throw out a confession from the soldier accused of planning to bomb a Texas restaurant filled with Fort Hood troops…

Prior to this point, Abdo had been fairly defiant, and he didn’t seem to shy telling the police what his plans were:

“So I’m AWOL … and I was planning an attack here in the Fort Hood community,” Abdo says in the recording… Read more

A few websites have noted Tennessee State Representative Rick Womick’s statement to ThinkProgress interviewers that Muslims should be removed from the US military. The video is available on YouTube.

It’s worth noting Womick’s political position has been somewhat inflated in a few reports. For example, ThinkProgress suffixed his name with (R-TN), as did some others, which is inaccurate. The “party-state” designation is used for members of the US House; it is redundant to say “Tennessee state rep (R-TN).” The more accurate description is (R-34) or R-Rockvale, as Womick represents District 34 in the Tennessee State House. As a state representative, Womick has no influence over the US military. (As an aside, Rep Womick was an F-15 fighter pilot during Operation Desert Storm.)

“What we see now is smaller plots,” she said. “We are also seeing a rise of activities by individuals who are actually in the country, and they are acting by themselves and that kind of attack is the most difficult to prevent because there is nothing to intercept.”

In addition to using the example of Anders Brevik, a six-page bulletin from the FBI and DHS also included US Army Soldier Naser Abdo: Read more